


Never for Ever

by elder-flower (elder_flower)



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: 30+ fanfic, F/M, M/M, Mention of injuries, Possible Character Death, Prompt Fill, and also jaskier, and yennefer, but perhaps he should this time, geralt loves his family, jaskier not worrying about geralt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29457681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elder_flower/pseuds/elder-flower
Summary: Jaskier never worried about Geralt when he was on a hunt, or doubted, on the rare occasion he could be persuaded to stay behind, that Geralt would return to him. Geralt didn’t want him fretting, of course – he was a witcher, and this was the life, and honestly, he wasn’t worth it – but sometimes he thought about the inevitable occasion when he wouldn’t return. How long would it take before Jaskier finally did start to worry?
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11
Collections: 30PlusFanfic Prompt Channel Fics





	Never for Ever

**Author's Note:**

> Written (in an extremely short space of time on my phone...) for the prompt "Darkness". (Chapter two will be based on the next one! I didn't plan it, in fact there wasn't going to be a chapter two, but the next prompt is just too perfect...)
> 
> I challenged myself to try and write something different, i.e. not soft, ends badly, etc. - see for yourself how well that went.
> 
> Also, as much as I loooove Jaskier worrying for Geralt's safety whenever he's out of his sight for more than ten minutes, I also love Geralt being like "I mean it, I could die, I probably will die," and Jaskier being like "nahhh." LOL poor Jaskier. Poor Geralt!

The thing about Jaskier that caused Geralt stress – one of many things about Jaskier that caused Geralt stress – was his absolute, unshakeable faith in his abilities, as a witcher and as a fighter in general.

He never worried about Geralt when he was on a hunt, or doubted, on the rare occasion he could be persuaded to stay behind, that Geralt would return to him. Geralt didn’t _want_ him fretting, of course – he was a witcher, and this was the life, and honestly, he wasn’t worth it – but sometimes he thought about the inevitable occasion when he _wouldn’t_ return. How long would it take before Jaskier finally did start to worry?

No matter how much Geralt told him otherwise, Jaskier just persisted in his belief that witchers were unkillable. Geralt thought it was probably because he lived so much in a fantasy world of stories and epic ballads that he couldn’t stop seeing them as misunderstood heroes, and of course heroes had to be invincible.

Except… weren’t there also songs and stories about such heroes meeting tragic ends, dying fighting for their righteous causes and all that? Jaskier would know them all, but seemed to conveniently fail to consider that Geralt, even if he was a hero, might be one of those ones instead. It didn’t matter how clear he tried to make it that witchers died doing their jobs, regularly and horribly.

And now, sooner than he would have liked, if he was honest, it seemed it was his turn, finished off by nothing more than a fucking wyvern on the top of a hill in the middle of fucking nowhere. One of his arms was broken, one eye was blinded, possibly gone, and he was bleeding out, fast, too fast, he suspected, for his heightened healing abilities to save him without the help of potions - and he’d lost those on the hillside somewhere. He hadn’t even managed to finish the thing off in return.

A fitting death, maybe, for someone who was far from a hero.

Looking up at the early evening sky, he thought of the few people he loved and what they would do if he died.

His fellow wolves, when they realised he was not just staying away for a winter or two, but really gone, would accept it stoically and without surprise, but they would mourn for him, and miss him, and that, that was an honour.

Yen… Well, Yen would likely know straight away because of their bond. She had always understood that this could happen at any time. She would pretend not to be affected by his death, and the pretense would be perfect and probably never drop for a single second of her long life, but she too would feel sadder without him in the world, and love him in her memory, and that, too, was an honour, and warmed his fading spirit further.

Jaskier, though. Jaskier would simply not believe it, not for a long time. And when he eventually did, he would be devastated, and the shock of it would make it all the more awful for him. Jaskier just felt everything so deeply, all the time, and Geralt didn’t know how he would cope. Mainly for the bard’s sake, he let a small part of himself hope for a miracle that couldn’t possibly come.

He lost the thread of his own thoughts, sinking into a growing calm. What was happening to him? Oh yes, he was dying, most likely. And he had just been thinking about… about… His family, though he had never called them that out loud… and Yennefer beautiful, ferocious Yennefer… And Jaskier… Jaskier who, he realised with clarity apparently brought on by approaching death, didn’t just see him as an unassailable hero, but also simply cared for him too much to accept the possibility of losing him.

As the sky above him dimmed, maybe due to time passing, maybe his own sight failing, Geralt found himself picturing Jaskier as he had seen him last, the way he had looked at him as they said farewell that morning – then countless other times he had looked at him the same way, full of affection and caring, admiration, devotion - and it came to him with that same singular, serene clarity that oh, Jaskier probably did love him as he loved Jaskier.

He was no stranger to regret, but it didn’t hit him as hard as it usually did. It did seem a shame, though, that he had never noticed – no, he admitted to himself, that he had never believed it, never wanted to risk believing it. And now it was almost certainly too late.

He knew Jaskier could and would be alright without him, and happy again – he just hoped it wouldn’t be too difficult or take too long for him to get there.

Geralt closed his eyes and let darkness take him over, not afraid, just resigned, and gently sad that he was not going to wake up and be with his family again, or his lover, or his friend – most of all his beloved friend, because there were so many words that should have been said between them, and now they’d be going to the grave with him instead.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, the original plan was for this to end ambiguously, but anyone who's met me would have known perfectly well what the "real" ending was meant to be anyway, not to mention that, reading this back, it's pretty fucking unconvincing, so I feel good about writing a follow-up chapter! 
> 
> Now, how did Geralt end up being bested by one measly wyvern?  
> a) got a bit complacent  
> b) under-prepared because of lack of supplies/armour and weapons needing upkeep  
> c) sheer fucking bad luck  
> d) tired because he stayed up all night thinking about his loves Yen and Jaskier


End file.
